Yeshiva University Panel

10.24.136:26 PM ET

Israel as a Totem for Jewish Identity

Jews are smarter than everyone else. A Chinese woman who visits a synagogue is surely shopping for a Jewish husband. Pakistan has “managed to produce absolutely nothing" in its entire history [besides nuclear weapons]. A two-state solution would be a good idea if the state on the other side of Israel's border was Canada. The Palestinians have to “earn” the right to self determination. Thus spake Bret Stephens, former editor of the Jerusalem Post and current Wall Street Journal foreign affairs columnist, at Tuesday night's Yeshiva University panel discussion on the future of the Jewish people.

The Lamport Auditorium at the university's Washington Heights campus was packed with men wearing yarmulkes and women in modest dress who applauded these and similar remarks made by Stephens, who won a Pulitzer Prize—which I know, because moderator Shmuley Boteach (“America's rabbi”) mentioned the fact several times.

Boteach tried to win the famous name game by mentioning his time as an outreach rabbi to students at Oxford University, where he befriended senator-elect Cory Booker. But Adelson, who really should be a poster boy for campaign finance reform, won with his “deep, personal knowledge of Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu] and Olmert.” Which he mentioned a couple of times.

According to Adelson, there is no such
thing as a Palestinian people (apparently Palestinians are actually
“southern Syrians”) and Yasser Arafat stood for the destruction
of the Jewish people. While the casino billionaire cheerfully
acknowledged, almost as a matter of pride, that he did not actually
know the difference between Shi'a and Sunni Islam, he insisted that
former Iranian president Ahmadenijad believed in “something called
a Hidden Imam” who was a messiah, and that according to his
religious belief all the Jews needed to be dead before the imam could
reveal himself. Which was why Iran threatened Israel, because
Ahmadenijad was a “radical Jew hater” who wanted to bring the
Hidden Imam to his people.

But the men seemed rather confused about their fears, hopes and aspirations for the Jewish people. Joel talked up religious values and parochial day schools, while Stephens described himself as a Jew so secular that he risked “tipping into Unitarianism,” adding that his primary Jewish quality was “loyalty.” Israel's existence, said Stephens, was the reason “super secular” types like himself were proud to identify as Jews. The primarily Orthodox audience approved of both men's definition of Jewishness.

Israel, it seemed, was not actually a country filled with disparate, flawed individuals, but an identity totem for Jews of the diaspora.

The panelists spoke in chauvinistic cliches about the intellectual superiority of the Jewish people and the state of Israel, totting up Nobel laureates. Stephens bemoaned the fact that this year's Nobel laureates in physics included two Israeli academics who had migrated to American universities. “We have to find a way to keep them in Israel,” declaimed the man who left Jerusalem to take up a position with the Wall Street Journal.

But on the other hand the men seemed to
agree that Israel was teetering on the edge of imminent catastrophe
and destruction. The list of threats included Iranian nukes,
murderous Arabs and assimilation.

One can perhaps tolerate the views
expressed on Tuesday night in semi demented, rich old uncles. But not
from a man who purchases and wields political influence at the
highest levels. And not from someone who writes for one of the most
important newspapers in America. It was embarrassing to witness this
anti-intellectual event, particularly at an academic institution that
was supposed to be the crown jewel of Judaism's modern Orthodox
movement.